Endoscope Video Processing Local Blooming Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Endoscopes with multiple viewing elements, such as CCD or CMOS image sensors, suffer from saturation and blooming issues, leading to loss of image details and quality in video feeds, which is a concern during endoscopic procedures.
Innovation Solution
A video processing system that applies a customizable digital gain to the luminance component of the video data signal, using a combination of weights and functions like Gaussian and sigmoid to control blooming, ensuring increased gain in darker regions while maintaining low gain in brighter regions, thereby preventing saturation and blooming.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If digital gain is increased to improve image quality in darker regions, then luminance in dark areas is enhanced, but saturation and blooming occur in brighter regions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different digital gain values to different regions of the image based on local luminance characteristics. Dark regions receive higher gain to enhance visibility, while bright regions receive lower gain to prevent saturation and blooming. This spatially varying gain approach allows each region to be optimized independently for its specific lighting conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The digital gain is dynamically adjusted for each pixel or region based on real-time luminance measurements. The system continuously monitors local luminance levels and adapts the gain factor accordingly, transitioning from static global gain to dynamic local gain control to prevent saturation while enhancing dark areas.
2Device complexity
If uniform digital gain is applied to the entire image, then processing is simple, but image quality deteriorates in both dark and bright regions
Solution Approach 1:
The image is segmented into multiple regions or pixels, each processed independently with its own optimized digital gain value. This segmentation allows the system to treat dark and bright regions differently, applying appropriate gain levels to each segment to maintain overall image quality without excessive complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
An endoscope video processing system applies a blooming control feature to image frames of video data signals generated by viewing elements in the endoscope tip. A reduced digital gain is applied to a luminance (Y) component of the video data signal to generate an attenuated signal. An average luminance value of pixels neighboring a pixel of the attenuated signal is calculated and a function of the average luminance value is determined to generate a smoothly transitioning digital gain. The smoothly transitioning digital gain is conditioned using weights to generate a customizable digital gain, and the customizable digital gain is applied to the attenuated signal. This Local Blooming Control (LBC) facilitates a higher luminance digital gain in darker portions while maintaining a low or no luminance digital gain in brighter portions, within the same image frame.